Apparatus for playing duplicate whist



No. (9,404. Patented Feb. I4, I899.

- n. n. GRIFFEN.

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING DUPLICATE WHIST.

(Application filed. Dec. 28, 1897.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Shea! l.

vvl ffi sssa INMR Wffi: M 6% A 'EVI N o. 6l9,404. Patented Feb. l4,I899.

n. B. GBIFFEN.

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING DUPLICATE WHIST.

(Application filed 1m. 2a, 1897.)

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Shaat 2.

FIG. 5.

1n: nonms PETERS ca. PHoYouYHa. wnsumomn, n. c.

m (9,404. Patented Feb. l4, I899. H.-B. GRIFFEN.

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING DUPLICATE WHIST.

(Application filed Dec. 23, 1897.)

(No Model.) 4 Sheets--Sheet 3.

FIG. 5.

'YZ" A dL (DOG nu: n'cams virus 00. moraumo msnmm 2' y E C.

Patented Feb. l4. I899.

H. GBIFFEN'. APPARATUS FOR PLAYING DUPLICATE WHIST.

(Application filed. Dec. 28, 1897.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 (No Model.)

INVQITOR: dlr

A 5 666m e M 4 Aye-r- WITNESSES:

UNITE STATES PATENT. OFFICE..-

HENRY R. GRIFFEN, OF PI-ICENIXVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING DUPLICATE WHIST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,404, dated February14, 1899.

Application fil d December 23, 1897. Serial No. 663,178. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY R. GRIFFEN, acitizen of the United States,residing at Phoeuixville, in the county of Chester and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements forApparatus for Playing Duplicate Whist, of which the fol lowing is aspecification.

As is well known,in playing duplicate whist, a series of packs of cardsare employed,each pack being divided or dealt to form four hands; afterthe original play with a pack the hands are kept separate from eachother; and in the duplicate play each pair of players is provided withthe hands which were held by their opponents in the original series ofgames.

The keeping of the hands of a considerable number of packs of cards inthis separated condition,the disposition of the hands and packs in suchmechanical carriers as will permit them in the duplicate play to be asto the individual packs selected at random, so that the series ofindividual games shall not in the duplicate play be used in the samesequence as in the original,and, the employment of indicators as towhich of the players shall lead as the several packs are played in theduplicate series in irregular order,have heretofore involved the use ofcarrying and distributing apparatus of a somewhat cumbersome andunsatisfactory character.

It is the object of my invention to provide a table beneath the surfaceboard of which, within a box-like top, are disposed a series of carrierpockets in which the individual hands of the large number of packs ofcards may be distributed in a selected sequence, said carrier pocketsbeing movable with respect'to the table top, and adapted to be shiftedto successive positions, in which they register with openings in saidtable,-in combination with means whereby the hands contained in pocketswhich register with such openings, may be ejected through them,lockingmechanism being provided to secure the carrier pockets in fixedpositions until the hands thus ejected are after being played returnedto them through the slots.

My invention further comprehends a novel system and arrangement ofdevices to indicate the successive leads and deals, and devices to keepthe scores of the successive plays.

My invention further comprehends certain details of mounting,construction and arrangement, all as hereinafter more fully and at largeset forth.

. In the accompanying drawings I show and herein I describe a good formof aconvenient embodiment of my invention, the particular subject-matterclaimed as novel being hereinafter definitely specified.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a casing constituting the table top, andin which the working parts of my apparatus are contained.

Figure 2 is a view in end elevation of the same.

Figure 3 is a top plan View of the apparatus, the lid of the box orcasing being shown as raised to exhibit the contained parts.

Figure 4 is a vertical, sectional, elevation of the apparatus shown inFigure 3, section being supposed in the plane of the dotted line 4: 4 ofFigure 3, and sight being taken in the direction of the arrows appliedto said line.

Figure 5 isa top plan view of a box or casing with the lid raised, thecard carrier being supposed removed to exhibit the parts ordinarilymounted beneath it.

Figure 6 is a vertical, sectional, elevation,

of the devices shown in Figure 5, section being taken on the dotted line6 6 of said figure, and sight being taken in the direction of the arrowsapplied to said line. Figure 7 is a vertical, sectional, elevation ofthe parts shown in Figure 3, section being supposed on the dotted line 77 of said figure, and sight being taken in the direction of the arrowsapplied to said line.

Figure 8 is a view in perspective of the plunger frame.

Figure 9 is a view in elevation of the shaft locking apparatus.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In the drawings,

A is a casing or box-like structure conveniently constituting a tabletop, having a bottom and side walls permanently united, and removable orhinged lid 0, in which are formed four card slots a a a afl-fourindicator openings b b b b and a record sheet opening a all as shownparticularly in Figure 1.

The four card slots are shown as disposed in such arrangement that eachexists in proximity to one of the sides of the table; thus the slot a isnear the north side, the slot a near the east side, the slot (1 near thesouth side, and the slot a near the west side, so that the playerslocated respectively at the four sides of the table, take their cardsfrom and return them through the nearest slot.

Within the hollow interior of the box or casing is disposed a movablecard carrier, C, consisting, in the embodiment of my inventionillustrated, of a structure equipped with four tiers of pockets, whichtiers are arranged in parallelism, the arrangement being such that eachtier of pockets, in the movement of the carrier, is carried alongbeneath a particular card slot in the table top, the tier 0 being alwaysbeneath the card slot (F, the tier 0 bein g always beneath the card sloto the tier 0 being always beneath the card slot at, and the tier 0 beingalways beneath the card slot a The pockets of the four tiers are assumedto be numbered consecutively from the left hand ends of the tiers to theright hand ends, and the tiers while in parallelism, are out of lateralalinement, that is, are placed in such staggered relationship, as shownfully in Figure 3, that pockets bearin g a common ordinal will alwayscontemporaneously present respectively beneath the four card slots,thus, for instance, when the third pocket of the tier 0 is beneath thecard slot a the third pocket of the tier 0 will be beneath the card slota the third pocket of the tier 0' beneath the card slot a, and the thirdpocket of the tier 0 beneath the card slot a The packs of cards as theyare dealt and divided into four hands, are to be inserted in pockets ofthe four tiers bearing a common ordinal, and this may be done either bylifting the lid a before the playing begins and placing said hands inthe particular pockets in the manner stated, or the hands may be dealtat the time they are played originally and immediately after eachoriginal play with a pack, the four hands may be inserted by the fourplayers, each player inserting the hand held by him through the cardslot nearest to him, with the result of course that owing to thearrangement of the card carrier the four hands will descend into pocketsbeneath said slots bearing identical ordinals.

In playing the hands originally, after each hand is played, it may beplaced in the pockets of the card carrier,the rack being moved at randomin alternate directions beneath said slots,with the result that if thecards are in the duplicate play selected, first, from the first pocketsat the left hand end of the carrier, played and returned, next from thesecond pocket at the left hand end of the carrier, played and returned,next from the third pocket, played and returned, and so on,

the packs will not, in said duplicate play, he used in the same order inwhich they were used in the original.

As will be understood, the staggered arrangement of the card carrierrack is made necessary by the disposition shown of the card slots, and,as is obvious, if the card slots a a should be formed in the table topat points farther to the left, the distance between the left hand endsof the tiers c c from the left hand ends of tiers c 0 would becorrespondingly increased, while on the other hand should said cardslots a a be formed farther to the right hand or east side of said tablethe left hand ends of said tiers c 0 would be brought to a position moreclosely adjacent to the left hand ends of the tiers c 0 The travelingcard carrier is formed of a series of four trough-like receptacles, d (Zd d, firmly united to each other in parallelism, and each divided by aseries of transverse partitions c into a series or tier of card pockets,the carrier, as a whole, resting and traveling upon rails d extendingfrom the east.

An opening or slot d is formed inthe bottom of each of the trough-likereceptacles d (Z (Z d and extends from end to end of the same, andrecesses or openings of width corresponding to said slots are formed inthe lower ends of each of the transverse partitions 0 Each of thetrough-like receptacles is provided at one of its upper edges with aledge or plate, designated respectively 6 e c c which register beneaththe indicator openings Z2 Z7 b b and upon said ledges are inscribed thewords Lead and Deal, the arrangement being such that as each series ofpockets present beneath the card slots in the manner stated the wordDeal inscribed on one of said ledges will appear at one of the indicatoropenings and the word Lead inscribed on another of said ledges willappear beneath another of said indicator openings, the distribution ofthe words Deal and Lead upon the ledges being such that they willpresent beneath these openings in a systematic manner, that is to say,in the use of the card carrier and in its progress from end to end ofthe box or casing, in which it will stop with its pockets in registrywith the card slots twenty-four times, the word Lead will appear sixtimes, and the word Deal will appear six times, beneath each of theindicator openings, the word Lead always appearing beneath one opening,the word Deal contemporaneously appearing beneath another opening, andblank spaces of the ledges contemporaneously appearing beneath the twoother openings, with the result that in the play of the twenty-fourpacks each player is to be considered as dealer for six times and asleader six times.

In Figure 3 the word Deal is supposed to be imprinted on the ledgeswherever an asterisk appears, and the word Lead wherever a small dashappears.

F is a record sheet holder, moving with, and,

preferably as shown, formed as a part of or connected to, the cardcarrier, said record sheet holder being a plate of any desired characterprovided with an inturned edge or flange f (Figures 3 and 4) or otherdevices to secure the record sheets or similar devices upon its uppersurface, said sheets being of the character shown in Figure 3.

This sheet is divided into five longitudinal spaces, at the lefthand endof which are respectivelyinscribed Hand number, Original, Duplicate,Originalgain, Duplicate gain. q

Said longitudinal spaces divided by a series of transverse lines eachinto twentyfour squares.

In the first series of squares opposite the words Hand number, areplaced the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

The record sheet opening a in the table top is a narrow slot of lengthand breadth approximating the space between two of the transverse linesof the record sheet, and in said opening are arranged mounted free forsliding movement two small blocks f When the first card pockets at theleft hand ends of the tiers of card pockets present beneath the cardslots the transverse space designated l of the record sheet will presentbeneath the record sheet opening, and throughout the movement of thecard carrier, that transverse space of the record sheet the number ofwhich corresponds to the card pockets beneath the card slots willpresent beneath the record sheet opening.

On the record sheet is kept the score of the players at the north andsouth sides or of those at the east and west sidesas the case may be, itbeing, of course, unnecessary to keep the score of both the north andsouth and the east and west sides.

In the original play, as soon as a hand has been played the number oftricks made by the north and south hands is set down in the transversespace presented beneath the record sheet opening, opposite the wordOriginal.

blocks f may be moved to the upper end of the record sheet opening andwhen in that position it will conceal the numbers on the upper edge ofthe record sheet, so that the players will not know the numbers of thehands they are playing.

Inthe duplicate play the second sliding block f is moved to the upperend of'the record sheet opening and against the first of In saidoriginal play one of the sliding the scores of any of the other originalplaysby simply sliding the second of the blocks f to the lower portionof the record sheet opening.

In said duplicate play the tricks made by the north and south hands areset down in the transverse spaces opposite the word Duplicate.

If in the duplicate play the card carrier be shifted to and fro, and thehands played somewhat at random as to successive order, the players willnot fall into the error of twice playingin said duplicate play the samehands, because, as soon as a hand has been played, and its result setdown opposite to the word Duplicate, said result will always be visiblebeneath the score card opening whenever those hands present beneath thecard slots, and thereby the players are made aware that the hands sopresenting are hands which have already been played by them in theduplicate play.

d is a stop block mounted on one of the rails (1 and provided with a setscrew, said block being adapted to be moved to and secured in differentpositions of adjustment on said rail.

When itis desired to play ten, twelve, fourteen, or other number ofhands less than the Whole number of twenty-four said block is moved toan appropriate position on said rail, and secured in such position, withthe result that the card carrier can only move a certain distance to theleft, that is sufficiently far to carry for example its first ten,twelve, or fourteen, card pockets beneath the card slots.

Any desired means may be employed to occasion the propulsion of the cardcarrier.

In practice I prefer to provide devices of the character shown in thedrawings.

In the drawings, g, Figure 7,is a rack secured to the under face of thecard carrier and g is a gear mounted on a shaft g engaged in suitablebearings and extending to the exterior of the box or casing where it ispro= vided with a knob g adapted to be manually rotated andreciprocated.

The rack is of width in excess of that of the gear wheel so that saidwheel with its shaft may be moved longitudinally without disengagingfrom said rack.

g Figure 9, is an escutheon plate, through the center of which saidshaft g extends, mounted upon the inner wall of the box or casing andprovided with a series of openings 9 arranged in a circumferentialseries about its center,-and g is a bolt carrier mounted upon the shaftg and providedwith a bolt which in the rotation of said shaft registerswith said openings 9 When the knob and shaft are forced inwardly, saidbolt is carried out of the opening in which it happens to be engaged,and in the rotation of said knob the gear wheel, through the rack,imparts movement to the card carrier until the latter is brought to aselected position.

As soon as this occurs, the bolt, in the outward movement of the shaftand knob, engages in one of the openings g", and the shaft and gearwheel, and consequently the card carrier become temporarily locked inposition.

Preferably the shaft g is forced outward through the agency of a spiralspring g coiled upon it and operating against a part of the framework ofthe casing upon the one hand and against the gear wheel itself on theother.

A recess in the wall of the box or casing allows of the movement in orout of the knob 9 In the use of the apparatus, when the card carrier hasbeen brought to a position in which the desired card pockets are inregistry with the card slots, the cards contained in said pockets are tobe forced upward through said card slots, and mechanism for this purposeand of a neat and'workman-like character is shown in the accompanyingdrawings.

His what I term a plunger frame, the same consisting of a devicecarrying four plungers h [L 72 72, disposed beneath and respectively inregistry with the four card slots referred to, and adapted, upon theelevation of the frame, to pass through the slots in the bottoms of therespective troughs, and within the four card pockets above them, toelevate the cards contained in said pockets through the card slots.

The plungers are preferably made as shown of slightly greater diameterthan the depth from front to back of the individual card pockets, sothat they are rendered absolute in their action of elevating the cardsin the card pockets, this excess of the diameter of the plungers beingmade possible by the presence of the slots or openings in the partitionswhich form the card pockets.

The plunger-frame itself, consists merely of two parallel bars h, whichexist in openings in the bottom of the box or casing, and are connectedat their respective ends through transverse bars or plates 71) as shown,each of said transverse bars or plates being provided withoutwardly-extending projections, designated t" i i 2'.

J is a rock shaft journaled in suitable bearings within the box orcasing, and protruding as to one end beyond the box or casing, saidprotruding end being provided with an operating knob, J

Within the box or casing said shaft is provided with a pair of armsjjrigidly affixed to it, one of which extends beneath the projection '6and the other beneath the projection 2'.

K is a shaft mounted within the box or casing, in parallelism with theshaft J, and upon which are rigidly mounted a pair of arms 70, whichextend beneath the projections t" 1' respectively.

Manifestly, when rotation to the right, in unison, is imparted to theshafts J K, the armsj 7.: attached to said shafts will occasion theelevation of the plunger frame.

Rotation is to be imparted to the shaft J through the knob J X on itsouter end, and I preferto transmit such rotation to the shaft K throughthe devices shown in Figure 4, which consist of a pair of vertical arms7o respectively mounted upon said respective shafts and connected as totheir upper extremities by a link 7' Having thus described my invention,I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patcut-- 1. In combination witha table top embodying card slots, indicator openings, and a record sheetopening, a card carrier equipped with a series of card pockets arrangedin parallel tiers, indicating marks or words mounted on said cardcarrier, and presenting beneath the indicator openings, a record sheetcarried by said card carrier and presenting beneath the record'sheetopening, and means for occasioning the movement of said card carrier,substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with a table top embodying card slots and indicatoropenings, arranged in staggered relationship, and a record sheetopening, a card carrier disposed and arranged to travel beneath saidtop, and embodying parallel tiers of card pockets, said tiers being outof lateral alinement, and indicators and a record sheet carried by saidcard carrier, substantially as set forth.

3. A table top embodying card slots, and a record sheet opening, a cardcarrier embodying card pockets, arranged to move beneath said table topand to come to rest with the card pockets in register by sets with saidcard slots, a record carrying plate disposed beneath said table top, andmoving beneath said opening in unison with the card carrier,substantially as set forth.

4. A table top embodying card slots and a record sheet opening, a cardcarrier embodyingcard pockets, arranged to move beneath said table topand to come to rest with the card pockets in register by sets with saidcard slots, a record carrying plate disposed beneath said table top, andmoving beneath said record sheet opening in unison with the movement ofthe card carrier, and means for closing part of said record sheetopening to shut from view entries previously made on the record sheet,substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, to form an apparatus for playing duplicate whist, ofa box or oasing, the top of said box or casing embodying four cardslots, and a record sheet opening, a card carrier mounted within saidtop or casing and comprising four tiers of card pockets arranged inparallelism, a record sheet carried by said card carrier, and means foroccasioning the movement of said card carrier beneath the top of saidcasing, the arrangement being such, that in whatever position saidcarrier comes to rest, four card pockets will be in registry with thefour card slots respectively, said cardpockets being at correspondingdistances from the ends of the tiers I for playing duplicate whist, of abox or casing, the top of said box or casing embodying four card slots,a card carrier mounted within said top or casing and comprising fourtiers of card pockets arranged in parallelism, the arrangement beingsuch that in Whatever position said carrier comes to rest, four cardpockets will be in registry with the four card slots respectively, saidcard pockets being at corresponding distances from the ends of the tiersin which they are respectively located, a rack, secured to said cardcarrier, and a shaft provided with a gear wheel engaged with said rack,and provided with an operating knob, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination to form an apparatus for playing duplicate whist, ofa box or casing, the top of said box or casing embodying four cardslots, and four indicator openings, a movable card carrier mountedwithin said top or casing and comprising four tiers of card pocketsarranged in parallelism, and a series of indicators mounted on saidcarrier in the vicinity of each tier of pockets, the arrangement beingsuch, that in whatever position said carrier comes to rest, four cardpockets Will be in registry with the four card slots respectively, andindicators will be in registry with indicator openings, said cardpockets beingatcorresponding distances from the ends of the tiers inwhich they are respectively located, arack, secured to said cardcarrier, and a shaft provided with agear wheel engaged with said rack,and with an operating knob, said shaft being capable oflongitudinalmovement,a bolt carried by said shaft,

. and a series of openings in which said bolt engages when forcedoutward, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination to form an apparatus for playing duplicate whist of abox or casing, the top of said box or casing embodying four card slots,and four indicator openings, a movable card carrier mounted within saidtop or casin g and comprising four tiers of card pockets arranged inparallelism, and a series of indicators mounted on said carrier in thevicinity of each tier of pockets, the arrangement being such, that inwhatever position said carrier comes to rest, four card pockets will bein registry with the four card slots respectively, and indicators willbe in registry Wit-h indicator openings, said card pockets being atcorresponding distances from the ends of the tiers in which they arerespectively located, a rack, secured to said card carrier, a shaftprovided with a gear wheel engaged with said rack, and also providedwith an operating knob, said shaft being capable of longitudinalmovement, a bolt carried by said shaft, and a series of openings inwhich said bolt engages when forced outward, and a spring adapted toforce said shaft outward, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination to form an apparatus for playing duplicate whist, ofa table top or casing, a card carrier embodying a'series of trough-likereceptacles, firmly united in parallelism, and each provided With aseries of partitions to form a series of card pockets, openings in thetable top with which said pockets register, slots formed in the bottomof said trough-likestructures,a series of plungers in registry with saidopenings in the top, and of breadth slightly in excess of the depth fromfront to back of the individual card pockets, said plungers beingmounted upon a frame equipped four projecting ends, a rock shaft,provided With arms which extend beneath two of said ends, a secondrock-shaft provided with arms, which extend beneath the other two ofsaid projecting ends, a knob mounted on the first mentioned of saidshaft, and mechanism for imparting rotation from said first mentionedshaft to the second, substantially as set forth.

10. A combination to form an apparatus for playing duplicate whist, of atable top or casing, a card carrier embodying a series of trough-likereceptacles, firmly united in parallelism, and each provided with aseries of partitions to form a series of card pockets, openings in thetable top with which said pockets register, slots formed in the bottomof said trough-like structures, a series of plungers in registry withsaid openings in the top and of breadth slightly in excess of the depthfrom front to back of the individual card pockets, said plungers beingmounted upon a frame equipped with four projecting ends, arock-shaft,provided with arms which extend beneath two of said ends, asecond rock-shaft provided with arms, which extend beneath the other twoof said projecting ends, a knob mounted on the first mentioned of saidshafts, a mechanism for transmitting rotation from said first mentionedshaft to the second, an upright attached to the first of said shafts, anupright attached to the second of said shafts, and a link connecting twouprights, substantially as set forth.

11. In an apparatus for playing duplicate whist, a top or casing,embodying a series of apertures, a card carrier embodying a series ofcard pockets, arranged to move in unison beneath said openings, and adevice for limiting the movement of said card carrier, so that only aselected number of said pockets shall be moved beneath said slots,substantially as set forth.

12. In an apparatus for playing duplicate whist, a top or casing,embodying a record sheet opening, a plurality of blocks arranged forsliding movement in said opening, and means for supporting and moving arecord sheet beneath said opening, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have hereuntosigned my name this 11th day of December, A. D. 1897.

HENRY R. GRIFFEN.

In presence of- O. S. YARNALL, IRVIN S. YARNALL.

